1942 Map of Ovid

About this map

The Finger Lakes region of Seneca County occupies the ridge between Seneca Lake and Cayuga Lake during the early 1940s. Centered on the town of Ovid, the landscape is defined by its strategic military and institutional footprints, most notably the United States Military Reservation Seneca Ordnance Depot occupying the northern territory and the expansive grounds of the Willard State Hospital on the western shore. The Lehigh Valley railroad cuts through the center of the county, serving a network of crossroads settlements like Hayts Corners and Tannery Corners. Numerous family and community burial sites, including Union Cem and the McNeal Cem, are interspersed among the agricultural lands and the deeply incised drainages of Sixteen Falls Creek and Simpson Creek. The topography reveals a transition from the swampy lowlands of Bilberry Swamp to the high bluffs overlooking the lakes.